The most important competition in the world has announced the main dates and the opening day for the next edition
The NBA confirmed its full schedule for the 2024-25 season on Thursday night. The 79th season of America’s top competition will stick to its format.
The 2024-25 NBA format
It will have 82 games for each of the 30 teams in the league during the regular season. This first phase begins on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 and ends on Sunday, April 13, 2015.
The meridian of the regular phase arrives on the second weekend of February. One week before NFL Superbowl LIX (Sunday, February 9), the All-Star Game will take place. The 2025 version will take place in San Francisco, California, home of the Warriors. The festivities begin on Friday, February 14 and end on Sunday the 16th with the 74th edition of the match.
Emirates NBA Cup
In the first part of the regular season, the second edition of the Emirates NBA Cup 2024 will take place. The ‘NBA Cup’ will have two stages: a group stage where each team will play four games (two at home and two as . visitors). The winner of each zone will advance to the quarterfinals, as will the best runner-up in each conference.
From there a Playoff will be created based on the performance of the eight qualifiers. Each quarterfinal match will be played on the court of the best placed. The action will move to Las Vegas for the semi-finals and grand final. This meaning is on Tuesday, December 17.
The group stage games will affect each team’s regular stage record. Once the first stage is over, those who reach the semifinals will be affected by their performance record in those two matches. For their part, those eliminated will play ‘consolation matches’ which will also count towards the regular phase record. The result of the final will not affect either of the two involved.
NBA Play-ins, Playoffs and Finals 2025
After that, the top six from each conference will advance directly to the Playoffs. The other two qualifiers from each region will be determined from the Play-in where they will rank from seventh to tenth place.
The play-in (April 15 to 18, 2025) will have the first game between seventh and eighth in each region. The winner of that match will advance as the 7th seed in the Playoffs of their conference. The final place will be determined by the game that will have the winner of 9-10 against the loser of 7-8 on the last court.
Once the eight qualifiers per conference for the Playoffs are determined, they will be ordered so that they are paired 1st-8th, 4th-5th, 3rd-6th and 2nd-7th. The postseason begins on Saturday, April 19, 2025. There, a best-of-seven series will be played to determine the conference champions. The finals will feature the winners of each region in a best-of-seven game series. It will begin on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Highlights from the 2024-25 NBA schedule
The 2024-25 NBA calendar has been revealed detailing some important regular season dates. This phase starts on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 with two games. The first of them will have the 2024 champions, the Boston Celtics, facing off against the New York Knicks at TD Garden. There will be the presentation of the 18th champion banner and the delivery of rings to players who were part of the Celtics during the tournament and will also start in 2024-25 on the squad.
After the game in Boston, the action will move to Los Angeles. That night there will also be a rivalry between the local Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. In this regard, on Wednesday, October 23 – the next day – there will be a day of ten games with the debut of 20 teams. That night will see the outstanding debut of the Los Angeles Clippers in their new stadium, the Induit Dome, hosting the Dallas Mavericks.
Christmas Day (Wednesday, December 25) is, possibly, the most important day of the regular period. There will be five games: Knicks-Spurs, Mavericks-Timberwolves, Celtics-76ers, Warriors-Lakers and Suns-Nuggets.
Also important is Martin Luther King Memorial Day (Monday, January 20, 2025), a time when teams usually pay various tributes to the fight for equality and equity. On that day, seven games will be played, starting at 12:00 pm on the east coast (2:00 pm in Argentina) and continuing until midnight. Charlotte-Dallas will be the first of seven games in one day to be featured: Cavaliers-Suns and Celtics-Warriors.
Last, but not least, is the NBA Global Games. The league often organizes regular season games outside the United States to expand its brand on a global scale. This activity started in the 90’s, but started to continue since 2011. The 2024-25 NBA calendar will have games in Mexico (Heat-Wizards in Mexico City on November 2) and France (Spurs-Pacers in Paris on the same 23 as of January 25).
NBA 2024-25 calendar: Each team’s debut
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
20:30 Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks
23:00 Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
20:00 Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers
20:30 Miami Heat vs. Orlando Magic
20:30 Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
20:30 Atlanta Hawks vs. Brooklyn Nets
21:00 Philadelphia 76ers vs. Milwaukee Bucks
21:00 Houston Rockets vs. Charlotte Hornets
21:00 New Orleans Pelicans vs. Chicago Bulls
22:00 Utah Jazz vs. Memphis Grizzlies
23:00 Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors
23:00 Los Angeles Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns
Thursday, October 24, 2024
20:00 Washington Wizards vs. Boston Celtics (Washington debut)
20:30 Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs
23:00 Denver Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
23:00 Sacramento Kings vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (Sacramento debut)
Source: Tycsports
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